1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to dumping vehicles and, more particularly, to an improved side loading and unloading dump truck assembly.
2. Prior Art
Various types of dump trucks and similar vehicles are in current use for such activities as building and road construction, garbage hauling, mining, land clearing, etc. Most such vehicles employ stationary bins or bins which can be tilted up at the front end thereof to unload through a rear gate. Some of such bins are rearwardly removable from the support trucks to facilitate loading and unloading. Certain other such vehicles unload and load from the side. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,653,052 for a device employing a bin which tilts sideways under the action of an hydraulic ram, to unload. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,450,436; 4,242,031; 3,655,218 and 3,884,526 also disclose similar devices, most of which are generally very complicated and expensive. A few such vehicles, mostly cement trucks and the like, employ, instead, a cylindrical drum which rotates on rollers. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,270 wherein a complicated chain drive is involved.
Most conventional dump trucks have bins which are subject to severe denting and damage over a period of use and eventually require replacement. This occurs when dredge buckets and the like are forced to clear the upraised bin sides and then drop heavy rocks, stones, and debris, etc. down into the bin from a height. Certain low-slung dredges cannot even be used to load conventional dump trucks unless the trucks are driven into a ground depression, or unless the dredge is raised. When low-slung dredges can raise their bucket arms or booms high enough to clear the truck bin sides, the dumping height may actually be increased with increased bin damage, because of the boom angle involved. Those side loading trucks which tilt their bins exert considerable energy in doing so.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved, inexpensive, durable and efficient dump truck assembly which will facilitate rapid loading and unloading of heavy loads without damage to the truck bin and with a minimum amount of energy expenditure.